NEW DELHI: Mercedes-Benz on Thursday drove in one of India’s most-expensive electric cars, bringing in the green version of its iconic SUV, the G-Class, priced at Rs 3 crore (ex-showroom).
The company, which sold nearly 20,000 cars last year at a growth of 12%, said it was already stocked out of the new electric G (G580) and will start taking fresh orders only from the second half of the year. A total of 85 cars alloted for India have been sold out.
Mercedes, which leads the luxury car market in India ahead of competitors such as BMW, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover, said demand in the segment still remains healthy and is specially strong in the top-end vehicles (TEV) category, which comprises of cars priced upwards of Rs 1.5 crore.
“While the entry luxury market was nearly flat, we saw a robust 20%-plus growth in the TEV segment, where we also sell the AMG range of vehicles,” Santosh Iyer, MD & CEO of Mercedes India told TOI after launching the G580 EV. “One out of every four cars that we sold was a TEV. We are hopeful that the momentum will be maintained this year too, and sales will be healthy. In fact, we start the new year with a strong 2,000-odd car order bank. This gives us a lot of confidence to move into 2025.”
The company has been focusing on pushing the sales of EVs, and now has seven green cars in its portfolio. “The share of EVs to our sales has been growing steadily. Against around 2.5% in 2023, the share of EVs was about 6% last year, and we hope to close this year at around 10%.”
The company plans to roll out eight new models this year, including electrics, to push the sales of greens as well as the core internal-combustion engine (ICE) portfolio.
The Pune-headquartered company plans to enhance its sales network in the country with 20 new outlets planned this year. It currently has presence across 125 locations in 50 cities.
Iyer said the company’s franchise partners have committed to invest over Rs 450 crore for the retail push. “The investment will go not only into new outlets, but in also modernising the current set-up.”
The company is going to smaller towns and cities to create new sales potential. “We are moving closer to customers. We are coming up in new markets like Jammu, Patna, Kanpur, and Agra.”
